thekristoffersuniverseinwarfandomcom-20200213-history
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union (A Confederate Victory)
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик Сове́тский Сою́з, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik Sovetskij Soyuz; IPA: sɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪsˈtʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪˈspublʲɪk) abbreviated to USSR (Russian: СССР, tr. SSSR) or shortened to the Soviet Union (Russian: Сове́тский Сою́з, tr. Sovetskij Soyuz; IPA: sɐˈjʉs), was a Marxist–Leninist state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1945. A union of multiple subnational Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The Soviet Union was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government that had replaced the Tsar. They established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (renamed Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1936), beginning a civil war between the revolutionary "Reds" and the counter-revolutionary "Whites." The Red Army entered several territories of the former Russian Empire and helped local Communists take power through soviets, which nominally acted on behalf of workers and peasants. In 1922, the Communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics. Following Lenin's death in 1924, a troika and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all political opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism (which he created) and initiated a centrally planned economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its eventual defeat in World War II. Stalin also fomented political paranoia, and conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents of his from the Communist Party through the mass arbitrary arrest of many people (military leaders, Communist Party members, and ordinary citizens alike) who were then sent to correctional labor camps or sentenced to death. In the late 1920s, the USSR began an massive and extensive military build-up, with the Soviet Armed Forces undergoing extensive modernization and reconstruction programs. The Soviet Navy's pre-World War I battleships of the ''Gangut''-, ''Imperatritsa Mariya''-, ''Imperator Nikolai I''-, and the ''Borodino''-classes, and the ''Borodino''-class battlecruisers were reconstructed and modernized from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. New battleships such as the massive ''Sovetsky Soyuz''- and ''Sovetskaya Rossiya''-classes, and the powerful ''Kronshtadt''- and ''Stalingrad''-classes of battlecruisers were constructed in the mid-1930s. Even new crusiers as the ''Chapayev''-class heavy crusiers were built prior to World War II. The Soviet Navy also began construction of the first Soviet aircraft carriers, ''Krasny Aviator'' and ''Gromov'', which were soon followed by the ''Project 54'' and ''Project 34'' of heavy aircraft carriers. By 1939, the Soviet Navy was the world's largest navy, even surpassing the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Red Army developed several massive super-heavy tanks, such as the ''T-42'', KV-VI Behemoth, ''KV-4'', and the ''KV-5''. By 1939, the Red Army possessed over 50,000 tanks, the largest tank force of any other in the world. The Soviet Air Forces (VVS) had in the interwar period developed new aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-2, Yakovlev Yak-9 and Petlyakov Pe-2. By the late 1930, the Soviet Air Forces possessed over 30,000 aircraft of various types, the world's largest air force. At the outbreak of WWII, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union was the world's foremost military and industrial superpower, with the Red Army being the world's largest military force with over 10,000,000+ active troops, the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) being the world's largest air force with over 30,000 military aircraft of various types, and the Soviet Navy being the world's largest navy with over 10,000+ active warships. In 1939, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union signed the Stalin-Tōjō Pact with the Empire of Japan, forming the Axis Powers.